Category Archives: News

WE HAVE MOVED OUR HICKORY OFFICE!!

OFFICES AT LAKE PARK

1420 Old Lenoir Road, Suite D, Hickory, NC 28601

Due to the State of North Carolina widening US Highway 321, our former office location of the past 17 years has been demolished. Our former law office location, and our dear friends at the Emergency Veterinary Clinic next door, were forced to relocate.

Our new location is conveniently located at the Offices of Lake Park, 1420 Old Lenoir Road, Suite D, Hickory, NC 28601. (just off Hwy 321, near the Catawba River bridge, behind Arby’s)

Our phone number, email addresses, and standard of service remain the same.

We look forward to seeing you!

Please call if you need directions to our new location.

828-327-2240

NO MORE LOAN SHARKS ?

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein urged Congress to rescind the so-called True Lender rule, which allows predatory lenders to evade state usury laws and take advantage of people.

“I’ve already gone to court to prevent loan sharks from coming back into our state and taking advantage of North Carolinians, and now I urge Congress to take action to protect people from predatory lenders,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “We need every tool at our disposal to uphold state law and stop them from coming back into our state.”

The bipartisan coalition of 25 attorneys general are calling for Congress to use the Congressional Review Act to rescind the rule from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). Through the rule, predatory lenders circumvent state interest rate caps through “rent-a-bank” schemes. Banks act as lenders in name only, passing along their state law exemptions to non-bank payday lenders. These arrangements would allow lenders to charge consumers rates that far exceed the rates permissible under North Carolina consumer protection laws.

Under the federal National Bank Act, national banks that are licensed and regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) can charge interest on loans at the maximum rate permitted by their “home” state, even when that interest rate exceeds the 30 percent interest rate limit in North Carolina. National banks have this privilege because they are subject to extensive federal oversight and supervision. For years, non-bank entities such as payday, auto title, and installment lenders have attempted to partner with national banks to exploit these exemptions to offer ultra-high-rate loans in states where such loans are forbidden.

Courts have previously concluded that these non-bank lenders are not the “true lender” of the loan and must follow state interest rate limits. However, the so-called True Lender rule prevents courts from intervening if a national bank is either named as the lender on loan documents or the bank initially “funds” the loan. The rule also fails to require the bank to take any meaningful risk and is a departure from decades of OCC policy.

NC Attorney General Stein previously led a coalition of 24 states objecting to the rule when it was initially proposed by the Trump Administration and sued to stop its implementation in January. However, Congress can pass pending resolutions to repeal the rule and save years of litigation and more quickly protect people.

North Carolina Attorney General Stein is joined in sending this letter by the Attorneys General of Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Opinion: Why bankruptcy must be an option for homeowners and small businesses to survive this COVID-19 recession

The U.S. Bankruptcy Code should be overhauled to protect families and savings

Few Americans are unaffected by the recession and economic turmoil COVID-19 has wrought, with unemployment numbers spiking to Great Depression levels and millions in need of temporary benefits such as mortgage forbearance or expanded unemployment insurance. With no obvious end to the pandemic in sight, it’s increasingly clear that many Americans are sitting on a ticking financial time bomb.

If the U.S. is to avoid a disastrous repeat of the Great Recession, there must be a determined response from government. What Americans need now is a substantial overhaul of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Without this lifeline, millions of Americans could lose their homes, igniting a chain reaction that will slow the recovery and cripple the U.S. economy for years to come.

So far, efforts by federal and state governments to provide relief to Americans blindsided by COVID-19 have helped to stanch the bleeding. But for many, these measures have come too little, too late. Despite more than 16 million people being unemployed, efforts to pass a second federal aid package have stalled, creating the real possibility that the lack of progress from politicians will accelerate the speed and size of the bankruptcy wave — a wave that would surpass the 2008 economic downtown, and possibly become the worst financial crisis of our lifetime.

The numbers are bleak — currently non-housing debt totals more than $14 trillion and more than 7% of residential mortgages are delinquent. This means millions of people can no longer meet their debt obligations, given the size and scope of this pandemic.

Far from being a way to escape financial obligations, bankruptcy is a key part of the social safety net for those who have been dealt a bad hand — and you’d be hard-pressed to find a worse hand than COVID-19. Bankruptcy is a vital and even necessary means for honest people struggling with finances to obtain relief.

The most common causes of personal bankruptcy include job loss, medical problems and divorce. In this current crisis, bankruptcy may truly be the only real solution for many families and small business owners who never dreamed they would need it. It should be seen as integral to surviving the recession for some Americans as unemployment insurance, loan forbearance, Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, and other relief measures.

Yet the U.S. Bankruptcy Code has not evolved to address today’s global crises. Whatever Congress’ intentions might have been in passing the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) of 2005, it is clear they did not anticipate the seismic economic shocks that Americans have experienced since then. Accordingly, there remain substantial barriers to accessing bankruptcy relief that make a quick and meaningful recovery unavailable to many families.

In May of this year, the House of Representatives took an important step toward reversing this obstacle when it passed H.R. 6800, also known as the “HEROES Act.” The bill includes provisions that would provide critical relief to those burdened by the impact of COVID-19.

For example, it would increase the homestead exemption floor so that debtors forced to file bankruptcy as a result of the pandemic do not lose their homes due to a financial disaster that is far beyond their control. The legislation would protect debtors from having their COVID-19-related benefits, often the only resource standing between them and deprivation, seized by trustees during the bankruptcy process. And it would dramatically expand access to and effectiveness of Chapter 13 bankruptcy by raising debt limits for filing and providing more flexible options for discharging debts or extending repayment plans.

This legislation is a move in the right direction. It now falls to the Senate to craft a companion bill that goes the distance to relieve debtors and provide a light at the end of the tunnel. There is more that can be done, including giving Chapter 13 debtors options to deal with mortgage payments when there has been forbearance on those payments, as well as expanding provisions for relief from onerous student loan debts. One thing is clear: doing nothing is not an option.

Without decisive action, Americans who have lost jobs or businesses through catastrophes beyond their control will be mired in crippling debt they cannot repay. They will not soon return to the earning, spending and investing behavior that will be essential for America’s recovery. The long-term health and competitiveness of the U.S. economy will suffer for this mistake.

Bankruptcy reform is the fresh start — and the economic kick-start — we desperately need. It’s a solution with bipartisan appeal, and with the pandemic not likely to end anytime soon, it’s time for Congress and the Trump administration to come together to make this a priority.

John C. Colwell is president of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys.

The Most Significant Change to the Bankruptcy Code in 40 Years

PLEASE NOTE:

THIS LEGISLATION BELOW IS ONLY PROPOSED AND HAS NOT BEEN PASSED BY CONGRESS.  PLEASE CONTACT YOUR UNITED STATES SENATORS, RICHARD BURR AND THOM TILLIS TO VOICE YOUR SUPPORT FOR THIS LEGISLATION. PLEASE ALSO CONTACT YOUR LOCAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UNITED HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

 

UNITED STATES SENATORS (2 for each state):

https://www.burr.senate.gov/contact/email 

https://www.tillis.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-me

 

FIND YOUR UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE (one for each district):

https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative 

 

 

Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2020

On December 9, 2020 United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) introduced the Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2020, bicameral legislation to simplify and modernize the consumer bankruptcy system to make it easier for individuals and families forced into bankruptcy to get back on their feet.

The Consumer Bankruptcy Reform Act will make significant changes to the Bankruptcy Code. Among other amendments it will:

• Replace chapter 7 and chapter 13 bankruptcies with a single system.
• Allow for discharge of student loans.
• Allow discharge before completion of payment plans.
• Choice of state or new federal exemptions which includes new homestead floor.
• Assist renters with back rent avoid eviction.
• Allow discharge of local government fines.
• Exempt sources of income and assets traceable to alimony, child support income, the child tax credit, and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).
• Crack down on predatory practices and hold corporate wrongdoers accountable by banning collection of debts that violate consumer protection laws, allowing lawsuits against creditors that attempt to collect previously discharged debt, and preventing creditors from pursuing consumers in mandatory arbitration.
• Allow cram-down and extended re-amortization of home mortgages
• Create a minimum federal homestead exemption

 

 

 

The members of NACBA’s Legislative Committee will discuss the major changes proposed in the Act and how they will affect consumers and attorneys. NACBA’s Legislative Committee has spent hundreds of hours reviewing the proposed changes in the Act and are ready to share their analysis with NACBA Members.

 

NACBA Joins with 65 Organizations Calling for Cancelling Student Debt to Tackle Economic Fallout

Krista D’Amelio |

WASHINGTON, D.C.- On April 13th, 69 community, civil rights, consumer, and student advocacy organizations, including NACBA, sent a letter to House and Senate leadership, urging them to include student debt cancellation in the next coronavirus package. The letter also calls on leadership to extend the suspension of payments on federal student loans through March 2021, as current estimates indicate that the economy will not recover to pre-virus levels until the third quarter of 2021.

Opinion: Why bankruptcy must be an option for homeowners and small businesses to survive this COVID-19 recession

U.S. Bankruptcy Code should be overhauled to protect families and savings
Few Americans are unaffected by the recession and economic turmoil COVID-19 has wrought, with unemployment numbers spiking to Great Depression levels and millions in need of temporary benefits such as mortgage forbearance or expanded unemployment insurance. With no obvious end to the pandemic in sight, it’s increasingly clear that many Americans are sitting on a ticking financial time bomb.

If the U.S. is to avoid a disastrous repeat of the Great Recession, there must be a determined response from government. What Americans need now is a substantial overhaul of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Without this lifeline, millions of Americans could lose their homes, igniting a chain reaction that will slow the recovery and cripple the U.S. economy for years to come.

So far, efforts by federal and state governments to provide relief to Americans blindsided by COVID-19 have helped to stanch the bleeding. But for many, these measures have come too little, too late. Despite more than 16 million people being unemployed, efforts to pass a second federal aid package have stalled, creating the real possibility that the lack of progress from politicians will accelerate the speed and size of the bankruptcy wave — a wave that would surpass the 2008 economic downtown, and possibly become the worst financial crisis of our lifetime.

The numbers are bleak — currently non-housing debt totals more than $14 trillion and more than 7% of residential mortgages are delinquent. This means millions of people can no longer meet their debt obligations, given the size and scope of this pandemic.

Far from being a way to escape financial obligations, bankruptcy is a key part of the social safety net for those who have been dealt a bad hand — and you’d be hard-pressed to find a worse hand than COVID-19. Bankruptcy is a vital and even necessary means for honest people struggling with finances to obtain relief.

The most common causes of personal bankruptcy include job loss, medical problems and divorce. In this current crisis, bankruptcy may truly be the only real solution for many families and small business owners who never dreamed they would need it. It should be seen as integral to surviving the recession for some Americans as unemployment insurance, loan forbearance, Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, and other relief measures.

Yet the U.S. Bankruptcy Code has not evolved to address today’s global crises. Whatever Congress’ intentions might have been in passing the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA) of 2005, it is clear they did not anticipate the seismic economic shocks that Americans have experienced since then. Accordingly, there remain substantial barriers to accessing bankruptcy relief that make a quick and meaningful recovery unavailable to many families.

In May of this year, the House of Representatives took an important step toward reversing this obstacle when it passed H.R. 6800, also known as the “HEROES Act.” The bill includes provisions that would provide critical relief to those burdened by the impact of COVID-19.

For example, it would increase the homestead exemption floor so that debtors forced to file bankruptcy as a result of the pandemic do not lose their homes due to a financial disaster that is far beyond their control. The legislation would protect debtors from having their COVID-19-related benefits, often the only resource standing between them and deprivation, seized by trustees during the bankruptcy process. And it would dramatically expand access to and effectiveness of Chapter 13 bankruptcy by raising debt limits for filing and providing more flexible options for discharging debts or extending repayment plans.

This legislation is a move in the right direction. It now falls to the Senate to craft a companion bill that goes the distance to relieve debtors and provide a light at the end of the tunnel. There is more that can be done, including giving Chapter 13 debtors options to deal with mortgage payments when there has been forbearance on those payments, as well as expanding provisions for relief from onerous student loan debts. One thing is clear: doing nothing is not an option.

Without decisive action, Americans who have lost jobs or businesses through catastrophes beyond their control will be mired in crippling debt they cannot repay. They will not soon return to the earning, spending and investing behavior that will be essential for America’s recovery. The long-term health and competitiveness of the U.S. economy will suffer for this mistake.

Bankruptcy reform is the fresh start — and the economic kick-start — we desperately need. It’s a solution with bipartisan appeal, and with the pandemic not likely to end anytime soon, it’s time for Congress and the Trump administration to come together to make this a priority.

John C. Colwell is president of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys.

Read the article on MarketWatch

Broadband Survey for Faster Internet

North Carolina Announces Broadband Survey and Encourages Your Participation for Faster Internet Connection

“Reliable internet access is crucial for getting North Carolina back on its feet so that students can learn, teachers can teach, businesses can grow and communities can connect,” said N.C. Department of Information Technology and State Chief Information Officer Tracy S. Doaks. “As communities begin to survey their citizens, we will gain a better understanding of North Carolina’s internet speeds and need, which is critical for building strategies to achieve affordable broadband access for all.”

The brief survey was created in collaboration with the Friday Institute at North Carolina State University. The survey can be taken online for users with internet access and by phone for users without service.

“Every community has different challenges and unique needs,” added Doaks. “Without the data to understand what those are, designing strategies and implementing plans to expand affordable broadband access will always be a challenge.”

Information gathered using the survey will be used to provide context to the state’s broadband picture, guiding funding opportunities through North Carolina’s Growing Rural Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) grant program, informing research and policy recommendations, and supporting strategic targeting of additional funding channels.

This project is an extension of NCDIT’s Speed Reporting Tool, which allowed people to report whether they have internet access at their home or business and determine the speeds received at their address.

“Our office is continually looking for new ways to gather the data that will help us better understand and properly portray the real-life stories of students and families who can’t access the internet at home,” said Jeff Sural, director of the Broadband Infrastructure Office.

To access the online survey, visit: ncbroadband.gov/survey .  Residents without internet service, but with phones capable of text messaging, can text “internet” to 919-750-0553. Standard text messaging rates will apply.

Residents with land lines or cellphones that do not have texting capability, may call 919-750-0553. The interactive voice response system will guide them through a series of short questions to obtain their address and register it in the database as having no internet capability.

Governor Roy Cooper has made expanding broadband access a priority with the goal of affordable access for all North Carolinians. Executive Order 91 established a task force on connecting North Carolina to help achieve this goal.

About the Broadband Infrastructure Office

The Broadband Infrastructure Office is a division of the North Carolina Department of Information Technology working to enhance affordable high-speed internet access and adoption in communities across the state. The office administers the GREAT rural broadband grant program, facilitates partnerships with broadband providers, gathers data to identify unserved areas, and provides policy and technical guidance to local and state leaders. Broadband access and adoption can enhance a community’s viability and livelihood by creating income opportunities, facilitating greater civic and cultural participation, expanding educational opportunities, and providing access to health care providers and other essential services.

DEFUSE THE STUDENT DEBT BOMB

America’s student loan debt continues to grow. At the end of 2018, student loan debt hit over $1.5 trillion, tripling in size since 2006. For the over 44 million Americans with student debt, there was no hope for relief if they ever found themselves in a situation where they could not pay back their loans. But…

In May 2019, the Student Borrower Bankruptcy Relief Act was introduced to set things right. If approved, student debt would once again be treated like medical debt or credit cards in bankruptcy. For borrowers who truly cannot afford to pay their student loans, they would be able to wipe the loans out in bankruptcy. Filing bankruptcy not taken lightly: bankruptcy courts evaluate each case closely.

That is why the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys (NACBA) has released a new project:

StudentDebtBomb.com

To further strengthen the call to restore student loan bankruptcy discharge, NACBA is proud to introduce a new project: studentdebtbomb.com, a social media campaign to promote the Student Borrower Bankruptcy Protection Act of 2019 (S. 1414 and H.R. 2648), which seeks to make student loans fully dischargeable. The goal of the social media campaign is to encourage people to contact their Senators and Congressional Representatives, urging them to cosponsor the bills.

For further information, please contact Krista D’Amelio, NACBA Director of Government Affairs & Communications, at krista.damelio@nacba.com.